


Our Blossoming Spring

by eostella



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Post-Kakashi Hiden, Slight Canon Divergence, marriage fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 14:38:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12843303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eostella/pseuds/eostella
Summary: Months after the conclusion of Kakashi's mission concerning the Hozuki Castle, Mei finds letters addressed to her husband that would lead to their first grave marital conundrum.





	Our Blossoming Spring

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, I didn't know where all this came from. I am not even sure if it's a coherent story but here it is. Haha! Long live KakaMei!

The small scrolls felt heavier than they really were as she held them tightly in her hands. They weren’t that thick but her overthinking mind didn’t really allow her to view the situation in a logical way. Under her scrutinizing eye, the former-Mizukage-turned-Kirigakure-Konohagakure-ambassadress could note the delicate handling and thoughtfulness woven into the mail addressed to her husband.

If she were pettier than she currently was, she would have melted the damned letters away. However, these were her proof should the situation turned out to be something akin to her worst nightmare.

When she first moved into the traditional yet spacious main house within the vicinity of the Hatake farmlands in Konoha, Mei took it upon herself to make their abode a little homier. Kakashi had left the dwelling right after his father’s death and had not been back ever since.

The decision to reinstate his (or shall she say _theirs_ , now?) clan came after their marriage. She stayed right by his side to call back all the remaining clan members (which were surprisingly still numerous), to start establishing the glory of their agricultural prowess, and to hold their first clan meeting after more than a decade.

All the minor details such as delegating clan work to clan members, determining the equipment and materials needed to restart their research and product cultivation, and reaching out to the clan’s allied families outside of Konoha fell upon her as the clan’s new matriarch. This meant that running hers and Kakashi’s household was her work to do as well.

Per usual, Mei took the task very seriously.

She had builders (and Yamato) renovate what was needed in the main house and had cleaners took care of the debris afterwards. However, she personally arranged the newly bought furniture and other trinkets so that their space would be personal and meaningful, not just pure aesthetics.

Sometime during her clean-up, she came across a letter that was addressed to her husband. Mei had figured that it was harmless to open it up and read it. It could may very have well been an important missive that was misdirected to their home, and with her experience as a former kage, information about anything that concerned the village was important.

What she found in the letter, however, was nothing of the sort. If anything, the letter was a little more personal albeit still respectful as the sender referred to Kakashi consistently as Rokudaime-sama. It had not occurred to Mei then that it was anything suspicious. After all, the first letter’s content looked like an unprofessional report regarding the aftermath of Kakashi’s mission prior to his inauguration: the current state of Hozuki Castle.

True, Mei was generally _not_ concerned with the letter…but then she got to the bottom, read the last line, and saw who signed it.

_Spring is around the corner?! Kahyo?! Hozuki Castle’s maiden?! What in Kami-sama’s name was going on?!_

Mei’s mind ran amuck then. She was making theses and anti-theses regarding the whole conundrum, but her mind was starting to run in circles so she merely resigned to think about it another day. With a lot of matters on her plate, she quickly forgot about the letter and its contents.

That is until another letter arrived. And another. And another. And another. They all contained similar words, personal insights about Kahyo’s life, and her sentiments towards her whole predicament as the days go. Kakashi was still Rokudaime-sama but he was Dear Rokudaime-sama. That did not sit well with Mei, naturally.

What was this Kahyo intending to happen? Does she expect Kakashi to take some time to formulate a reply, acknowledge this _blossoming spring_ , commiserate with her? Was this former missing-nin (of her village, no less!) out of her godforsaken mind?

The Hatake matriarch clenched her eyes shut when she felt a stinging pinprick to the right of her forehead. The lateness of the evening and her unfilled stomach was making her more weary than usual. Kakashi’s lateness did nothing to help calm her twisting insides and swirling mind.

Sighing heavily, Mei laid her head beside the small stack of scrolls on the dinner table and closed her eyes. She didn’t even realise that she had fallen into a light nap until she felt herself being lifted from her perch against the table into two muscled arms and against a strong, muscly chest.

Mei let out a grumble to which Kakashi chuckled lightly. Even with her eyes closed, she crossed her arms and huffed. The annoyance that built up inside her due to her evening’s conundrum was starting to leak out without her permission.

“Suman, suman,” she heard him say in that cheerful tone of his. The fool must have thought she was angry because of his late arrival. In all honesty, she didn’t mind if he arrived at midnight or at an ungodly hour. After all, she was the former Mizukage; she knew what it was like to run a village.

When she was placed on their plush bed, Mei automatically rolled away from him and grabbed the whole of the warm duvet without a word. Even if she was tired from the work of the day, she found herself unable to sleep as easily as she did on their dining table. She heard the shower run for approximately six minutes before turning off once more. Adamant with her distance, Mei didn’t move from her cocooned position on her side of the bed.

Kakashi watched his wife’s balled-up form on the bed as he dried his silver hair with a fan that Mei purchased the other day. He wonders silently what could have caused such reaction in the former Mizukage. Whenever he arrived late in the past, she was usually asleep or finishing her own set of paperwork. For Mei to stay up late without valid reason was unnatural and he was deeply concerned about it. On top of that, she didn’t mask her displeasure when he carried her into their bedroom.

While he knew that he wasn’t a perfect husband, Kakashi was used to Mei letting him know what he had done wrong or what good he didn’t do. There was nothing but honesty and frankness in between their marriage, as they preferred to be strictly direct with their communication. Beating around the bush was considered something that terribly wasted time.

The Hokage let out a breath and dimmed the lights in their bedroom before he approached their bed. Tentatively, he knelt on the mattress, letting his eyes adjust to the slight darkness. With the help of the glow of the moonlight, he made out his wife’s form and crawled next to her, mindful of her long and voluminous auburn hair.

“Mei?” he tried to call out to her. When he didn’t get a reply, he carefully laid a hand on her clothed arm and squeezed. “Mei, what’s wrong?”

She was expecting the question. One way or another, Mei was sure that Kakashi will notice the difference in her mood, or the change in their home’s atmosphere given her behaviour. The Mizukage had prepared several responses to the query but none of it came out of her mouth. Instead, she began to shake under his touch and her KI started to increase.

“Kahyo.”

“Kahyo?” Kakashi repeated, a thin film of sweat covering his forehead as her KI slowly filled the mood in their bedroom. “K-Kahyo, who?”

In a flash, Mei whirled to face him, pushing his hand off her. There was emerald fire burning in her eyes. “For goodness sake, Kakashi. Playing stupid is unbecoming of you.”

He frowned and blinked his eyes twice. “Mei, I am really lost. Really,” he swore as he reached his hand out to hers only to be slapped away.

“Drop the act,” she said through clenched teeth. “I am not falling for it. I am not stupid enough to believe that you have already forgotten the name of Hozuki Castle’s maiden…certainly not stupid enough to believe that there’s _nothing_ going on between you two.”

 _Kahyo. Hozuki Castle. Maiden._ Oh. His eyes widened a small fraction as soon as he realized what she had been pertaining to. However, they narrowed pretty quickly as the confusion took over him once more. “Between—No. No, Mei. Kami-sama help me, no. There’s nothing. Never was, never have been, never will be.”

“Then how else would you explain the damn letters, Hatake?!” she bellowed, making her husband wince.

Somehow, her outburst greatly decreased her KI that was threatening to consume their bedroom. Kakashi was not sure if he could stand one more minute being surrounded by the explosive Godaime Mizukage’s infamous Killing Intent. “Letters—Mei, I’m sorry. I really don’t know what you are talking about. I certainly never read any letter from Kahyo-san. I have never had any contact with her post-completion of the mission. Perhaps, you could enlighten me?”

She could have explained the situation that has been going on for months now but she would rather manually pull out all her teeth. Mei threw the covers off her and proceeded back down to their dining room, Kakashi hot on her heels. The light flickered open and she pointed to the stack of scrolls, a frown upon her face.

There was a nervous hammer against his chest when Kakashi read the letters. For sure, he didn’t wish to downplay the whole conundrum since Mei was greatly affected by it. However, he wasn’t exactly sure on how to console his wife and explain to her that this wasn’t something she should be worrying her mind over.

Similarly, her pulse quickened once Kakashi sat down and went over the letters. Part of her wanted to tear her eyes away at the scenario but she steeled herself anyways just to see if he would slip up or display something that would confirm her worst assumptions.

A part of her mind constantly told her that it was unfair to accuse Kakashi of something that she had scarce evidence of. Yet the Mizukage indulged the more irrational fragment of her thinking. After all, she needed to be cautious around things like these.

She doesn’t have an extensive experience regarding romantic couplings so there was nothing to compare to. All she had were the novels of the romantic sort to fill her head with fantasies and ideals. Mei never had anyone who dared to court her, much less marry her. The first one was a man of foreign descent, someone whom she didn’t even expect to show interest in women, much less in someone as troubled as her.

And look at where they were now.

There was a strong urge to let loose in the newly ploughed Hatake fields, spit out lava all over the place and let out acidic steam just so she could shake off the feeling of being trapped and suffocated. She managed to pat it down, however, as she didn’t have the desire to ignite the Fifth Shinobi World War. How ridiculous it would have been since the cause was an alleged third party in an otherwise peaceful and happy marriage.

Mei was shocked out of her thoughts when Kakashi spat a small plume of fire to the scrolls until all of them were mere ashes on their table. Her fists balled and she stomped her way to him. “What—Why did you do that?”

“Because they mean nothing to me,” he replied, standing up and facing her. Mei couldn’t describe what it was but there was something hiding beneath the serious expression on his unmasked face. “What made you think that they meant something, Mei?”

Her shoulders bunched up and her throat constricted as she realised that it was _hurt_ that laid underneath his serious expression. Kakashi was hurt that she accused him of such immorality, she surmised. “I-I…don’t know.”

“Mei…” she heard him say softly. The former Mizukage saw that his hand was starting to reach out to her but she spun on her heel and moved away, wrapping her hands around herself.

“Nothing. Let’s just go to sleep, Kakashi.”

The guilt that crept into her now was as intense as the spite that she had harboured earlier, and it was making her head feel light. Her lip quivered and she squeezed her eyes shut to will the tears away. For the first time in her life, Mei wanted the ground to swallow her whole until everything blew over.

The sensibleness finally started to come back to her and she felt ridiculous about the situation now. Some wife she was, getting angry at her husband for something he didn’t even do. Kakashi was a good man. He wasn’t someone that would do things without reason and without analysing the facts. Certainly, he wasn’t someone who would do something to deliberately upset her.

The fact that she didn’t even think of those things first when she saw the letters arrive made her feel dirty. She knew that it was possible that Kakashi may change the way he views her now. After all, this wasn’t something simple like getting upset since he didn’t put his dirty clothes in the hamper or other irrelevant things. This was something that challenged the sanctity of their marriage, and it seemed like she had pulled the rug from under them singlehandedly.

Mei was so deep into her thoughts that she had jumped when Kakashi languidly wrapped around her. She relished in the warmth of his body against hers and a tiny speck of hope flickered in her. Maybe not all was lost, after all?

“In the brightest of days and in the darkest of nights,  
Through every ray of sunshine and every drop of rain,  
Amidst the calmest of springs and the roughest of storms,  
I pledge you my love, never-ceasing, ever-true.  
Even when death knocks to claim when we’re due,  
Nothing shall sever the eternal bond of me and you.”

The soft drawl of his voice created words that were familiar. She may have only heard them once but they would forever resonate clearly in her mind. The tears that she was willing away broke free from their confines and heavily streaked down her face, as she heard him recite the vows he recited on their wedding day. Mei’s breathing turned ragged and she let out a sob before she turned in his arms and clutched him firmly.

“I’m sorry, Kakashi,” she whimpered against his chest. “It’s not fair to—I’m a fool.“

“I know, Mei. It’s all right,” Kakashi said as he cradled his wife against him, placing a kiss to her temple. “Everything’s all right.”

Her fingers tightened their grip on his yukata as she heard his consoling words. Mei took several deep breaths to calm herself and soothe the ache that was starting to settle in her constricting lungs. “It’s just that I never expected my dream—“

“I know, Mei,” he repeated, hand drawing calming patterns on her back. “You don’t have to explain to me because I know and I understand.”

One of the biggest dreams in her life was her reality now. Without a doubt, she would want everything to be perfect. She would do even the most unspeakable of things to eliminate anything that threatened the stability of her realized fantasy. It just didn’t occur to her that her slightly obsessive and overprotective nature would extend even to the person whom she didn’t need protection from.

When her breath settled, Mei pulled away from her husband and looked up at him, uncaring if she looked her worst after a crying bout. “Forgive me, Kakashi. I…It’s very unfair to accuse you of something entirely ridiculous. It won’t happen again. I know you would never…”

His softened eyes and lopsided smile made Mei’s heartbeat turn erratic once more, only this time it was the good kind of erratic. “It’s all right, Mei. We’re all right.”

She nodded awkwardly, unable to formulate a coherent response when he was looking at her that way. Instead, Mei buried herself in the warmth of her beloved Hokage and sighed heavily in relief. “I love you, Hokage-sama. The whole of you, pretty face and all.”

“I love you too, Mizukage-sama,” he replied affectionately, after he chuckled at her words. “Your soul is beautiful, but your smokin’ body and gorgeous face are definitely welcome bonuses.”

A small smile played upon her lips. Kakashi was a very attractive man, in both aesthetics and personality. It was a no-brainer that her darling husband would attract eyes of people all over the elemental nations even with just the top half of his face on display. _After all, he attracted her._

What she relishes in (aside from the fact that she was the only one to have limitless access to his unclothed face) was that his adorable, dopey eyes were reserved only for _her_.

**Author's Note:**

> 'Blossoming spring' or anything of it's variation is a metaphor in the Japanese language that means 'blossoming love'.
> 
> For all her smarts and ferocity, I kind of headcanon that Mei would be touchy-feely and overprotective when it comes to her marriage (with Kakashi, in this instance). After all, she has been touchy-feely about her unattachment and it was a running gag in the Naruto world whenever there was a chance.
> 
> Kakashi's vow at the end...I found that in one of my scraps in my iPad back when I was writing a novel. Since said novel has been destroyed and never to be seen again, I decided to use it here. Vows are more for western weddings, I think, but Mei's Infinite Tsukuyomi dream seems pretty westernized to me!
> 
> Anyhoo, thanks for thanking the time to read! Please let me know what you think.


End file.
